Why Weyoun Might Actually Be Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Best Villain 

Damar's belly laugh after Worf kills Weyoun 7 is a gem That never fails to give me as big a laugh.

One of the underrated moments of Weyoun's character is when he interacts with Jake Sisko in "A Time to Stand". Weyoun is courteous, but firm, almost pitying Jake for his naïveté about "Freedom of the Press". He isn't spiteful or cold. He pretty much gaslights Jake into apologizing to him. It's a masterful bit of Vorta diplomacy that I think only Jeffrey Combs could pull off.

She may not be the best villain, but the female changeling is definitely one of the scariest just because of how utterly callous she is.

Did anyone else notice a parallel between Weyoun-7 rationalising that it's OK to send a ship to blow up Odo because "he doesn't think of himself as a Founder" etc. and Winn Adami, seeking power, rationalising "the Prophets didn't help Bajor during the Occupation, so it's OK for me to betray them?" Or am I reading too much into that?

I'm a huge fan of Weyoun. I just love how gosh-darned disappointed he is that you don't want to be subjugated by his gods' empire.

Weyoun literally asks for Odos blessing while dying in his arms. Even after basically being cast off by the Dominion, he is still loyal to the founders.

One scene I kind of liked was that one time Weyoun thought Jake and Nog were up to some kind of plot against him. He brings them in to question them, Jake tells the truth but Weyoun doesn't believe it. So then Jake tells him an over the top lie of the sort that wouldn't be too far out of place in an actual episode. "I believe you," Weyoun said. "That is, your first story." And he returns the card, sends the boys off. It shows he's a villain, but a smart one.

When Weyoun drinks the poisoned Kanar in the episode Ties of blood and water and says “oh that really is quite toxic isn’t it”, the look on Gul Dukat’s face just cracked me up and is priceless. Weyoun then says “Vorta are immune to most poison’s”.

One of the more interesting scenes of DS9 is when we find out that Weyoun (and other Vorta) can't appreciate art. I think that's a good metaphor about how slavish devotion to authority destroys your individuality and creativity.

One of the moments that really captures Weyoun's two-faced villainy is when he confronts Sisko about deploying a minefield at the entrance to the wormhole. He starts with threats and indignance, trying to intimidate Sisko. But when he realizes that Sisko isn't going to back down, he immediately changes tack, spinning a yarn about how the Dominion is "peaceful" and just trying to help Cardassia rebuild. Sisko plays along in the moment and of course, doesn't buy anything Weyoun says, but it's a great little moment that shows exactly how Weyoun operates.

He was the quietest voice, yet he commanded the biggest stick. I mean the fact that the Female Founder trusted him implicitly meant he had the whole Dominion military at his beck-and-call.

Jeffrey Combs really makes the difference here. Weyoun wouldn't have worked nearly as well without his amazing work. He's always a pleasure to watch.

Weyoun: "All this talk of gods strikes me as superstitious nonsense." Damar: "You believe the Founders are gods, don't you?" Weyoun: "That's different." Damar: "Ha! In what way?" Weyoun: "The Founders *are* gods." Damar: "..........."

"Have they agreed to cooperate" "No…Maybe you should talk to Worf again" shows how Damar really can't stand Weyoun

Weyoun is a great villain because he knows exactly what his power is and because he doesn’t want more he can wield it like a knife. He never makes threats he can’t follow up. There’s no bluster of bluffing. And there never feels like there is any malice in his actions.

Another reason Weyoun is such a stand out villain is we see little reflections of the Dominion and the tyranny of the founders through him, even the tyranny over their own subjects. The scene where he regards Ze'al's art and tries to, through sheer force of will, gain an understanding of aesthetics is actually a little tragic. It is a window into how unless something servers the founders, they considered it not only unimportant but a distraction, and will use a combination of indoctrination and genetic tampering to prevent their followers from accessing it. The Jem'hadar and Vorta are terrible tools of the fascist Changelings, but they are tools nonetheless, with little agency in what they ever could have done. They are victims of the founders as well, who have been forged into oppressors. Like when Sisko asked Remata'klan "Do you really want to give up your life for the 'order of things'?" "It is not my life to give up, Captain - and it never was."

Jeffrey Combs is an amazing actor, he usually plays such despicable characters but he also plays my favorite character in ST Enterprise as Commander Shran, his rivalry with archer is hilarious.

"Dominion takes a dim view of terrorism" was perhaps the most chilling line written for Weyoun, it still gives me the creeps.

One of my favorite Weyoun lines is when he’s looking at a painting that Dukat’s daughter made (if I remember correctly) and asks him if it would be more aesthetically pleasing in blue.

As the length of any Star Trek series increases, the likelihood of Jeffrey Combs appearing approaches one I'm okay with this

Weyoun is the GOAT. The smarm. The absolute devotion to the Goo Nazis. The barely-concealed contempt for everyone *but* Goo Nazis. Every Weyoun episode - every line - is to be treasured.

Honestly, I think Weyoun Six is more consistent with the other Weyouns, than Weyoun Seven. Treachery, Faith and the Great River is one of my favorite episodes of DS9 (and of all ST), I saw it countless times, and I came to the realisation that W6 is a perfectly good clone, and W7 is the faulty one. After his activation, W6 learns about the diseas of the Great Link. He realize that all changeling will die expect Odo. If he wanna serve his gods in the long run, he has to serve Odo. And if he wanna serve Odo, he has to except Odo's viewpoint about the war, the Dominion, the universe and everything. So he does. But he is still that manipulative, two-tongued Weyoun we all love. I think all other Weyoun could do the same thing in his place. (Well, maybe not Weyoun Four, but he was really only a proto-Weyoun, as a character). On the other hand, W7 does something in the episode, what no other Weyoun would do: he try to get Odo murdered, and than he lying about it to the Female Founder. I think he is the Weyoun, who exceeds the literal interpretation of "serving the Dominion". W6 disobeying the Founders, but he obeying Odo; he chosses the god who will live over the gods who will die. Yes, at the and he disobeying Odo too, but only to save him from death. But W7 disobeying the Founders AND disobeying Odo. He willing to sacrifice Odo for the good of the Dominion - despite the clear intent of the real rulers of the Dominion. And when he lieing to the Founder, he does it to save himself only - not her, or the Founders, or the Dominion. This is why I think W7 was a faulty clone, and this is why I can genuinely like Weyoun Five and Eight (and off course Six), but I can't like Seven. They are bad guys, but they competly and perfectly loyal to their gods, and they sincerely believes that what they do is good (or at least necessary), because their gods told them so. They are predetermined to think that way; from this viewpoint, they are one of the Dominion's victims. But not W7: he somehow can put his own interest before the honesty with a Founder. And when you lost that complet loyalty, there is nothing left, just that dispicable, "very killable" bad guy.

If it helps any I think your version of the Female Changelings line is much better, as while "That was the last clone of Weyoun" gives the original some status of importance, "That was my last Weyoun" would have really nailed in how the thrall races of the Founders were seen as mere tools rather than actual people that ever really mattered.

The scene with Odo asking Weyoun to reinstate Bajoran Security is even more perfect, because after he gives in to the request Weyoun has one of his own, that Odo join the meetings to run DS9. This brings Odo into the muddy waters of politics, where Weyoun can manipulate even the Founder he claims to worship.

"What's in this, cinnamon?" Uh oh... I've always been really fascinated by the Jem'Hadar for lots of reasons. They're slaves that have been so thoroughly subjugated that they make their bondage, not only a matter of honour, but a full blown religion. They have *ONE* chance to seize freedom (To The Death) and they fail. It takes more than a year (Rocks And Shoals) for Sisko to start to see them as another victim of the Dominon, and even a potential ally.

Jeffrey Combs is a real treasure. I hope he will be in future Star Trek projects. Great video!

Weyoun, "the lickiest bootlicker who ever licked a boot." Well said, my friend. He is one of my favorite characters in all of Star Trek, second only to Garak. Despite all of this, one of my favorite things about him was the multitude of ways he dies, Vaporized by his Jem-Hadar First with a Federation Phaser Rifle, a "totally random" transporter "accident" that conveniently missed Damar, Suicide implant, Worf, and Garak. Such an honor. Weyoun 5 plays Dabo and drinks poison, Weyoun 6 ate pizza with chopsticks, and Weyoun 7... Death by Worf! Yes he is the best villain DS9 has to offer. You say two-faced, I say dynamically complicated, either way Jeffrey Combs brought him to life and just made it work! Looking forward to Weyoun 9, lol.

My favorite line of the entire series: Damar to Weyounn 8: "Maybe you should talk to Worf, again. *snicker*" 🤣😂🤣😂

I choked on my juice with laughter when you said, "He's just so killable". Because that is so very true, and the way you said it is hilarious. No wonder they're already on #5 and by the end of the series, they run out of Weyouns lmao.

That and Dukat's straight up racism, like when he wondered why the Bajorans couldn't accept their inferiority and submit to Cardassian occupation...

I feel Steve does a dirty to middle managers here. Granted, they're rare, but the great middle managers are something to behold. Or rather, you hardly notice them because they shield the underlings from upper management's yearning for relevance and just gets everyone to get on with things.

One of my favorite lines of dialogue in the whole series comes from Weyoun 6. Odo accuses him of "just being paranoid" in his assertions that Dominion leadership wants him dead, and he says, "Of course I'm being paranoid! Everyone's trying to kill me!"

A great ST villain can often be seen as an anti-Kirk, an anti-Picard, etc. Weyoun is, in many regards, an anti-Sisko. Of course, I'm writing this 1/10 of the way through the video, Steve might be about to spend the next 30 minutes saying this...

The thing I like about Weyoun, is how much he clearly wants to better himself. He doesn't understand art, but he WANTS to understand it. He can't really taste new foods, but he still wants to experience them, going through the runabout's entire stock of dishes so he can at least learn their textures. They're small things, but they're there- and they're a bit tragic. It's a shame, that despite wanting to expand his boundaries, he's incapable of doing so due to the limitations the Founders put on him, and he completely refuses to recognize that an injustice was done to him. I also like to think that, for Weyoun 6... it's less that he found the violence and the war distasteful.... but more that he learned the Founders are dying. If they're dying, then that means the only one of his gods left, would be Odo. Which means, he HAS to serve Odo, in order for him to feel like he has a use. So he doesn't care about the war, actually, he's just saying what he knows Odo wants to hear. Or, he started from 'I need to do what Odo wants' and THEN decided the war was unjust. Which is why the changelings changed 2 things for Weyoun 7; first, they lowered his slavish devotion to Odo, which is why he's willing to kill him, using the justification that Odo doesn't technically consider himself a founder- and second, keeping him FIRMLY in the dark about the sickness that the Founders are suffering.

I firmly believe that "Dukat did nothing wrong" posters exist ironically to annoy Steve and people who share his proclivities. Also acting is fun and it's fun to roleplay a horrendous person.

He is Jeffrey Freaking Combs, which gives him huge points.

If they had added Jeffery Combs' Andorian to the regular cast as a part of the crew somehow, I don't think Enterprise would have been canceled when it was. I know there were plans in future seasons but if they had moved that up it would have helped immensely.

“On Star Trek they do Star Trek shit” needs to be converted into merch immediately.

I think people defend Dukat because he's a compelling villain. That, and all those "villains who had a point" clickbait articles that act as if a villain having a positive/relatable/laudable aspect makes them the hero.

Who could forget the real villain of DS9, the person who threw a Klingon Dictionary at a random writer and asked them to translate all the Klingon lines.

I love that the Jem'hadar ships don't have front monitors only the top ranking people can see what's going on because loyalty is so important. Its a nice piece of story telling and it probably saved on the budget too.

"Time to pack!" Weyoun's greatest line.

The fact that Weyoun is a killable lickspittle makes him more dangerous, because his enemies will underestimate him and assume that he's just a sniveling toady. Then they find themselves outmatched when he makes a bad deal with them or stabs them in the back. He's a brilliant villain; better than Dukat.

I don't always agree with your assessments, but this one about Weyoun was spot on. He was one of, if not THE best villain in DS9. He was ambitious, relentless, and loyal to all the wrong people. And yet, all that ambition and relentlessness was never for himself, making him very frightening. I think he feared failing his gods far more than he feared death.

Weyoun is one of the best villians of all star trek and combs best role, at least for me. Unlike Dukat he does not enjoy beeing cruel, he just want to do his job as best as he can. And like Steve said he did everything with a smile. If he is not flat out ordered to force his will (more the will of the founders) on others he allways try to do diplomacy.

I cannot articulate how much I love Jeffrey Combs in this role. He'd make a great Bond Villain.

Back when my mother was still with me, she always shuddered whenever she saw Jeffrey Combs in any tole, because she had found Weyoun so much of a creep - he did such a great job of selling that character that Mum's feelings about Weyoun carried over to other shows and films!

I always found Weyoun to be such a lovable villain, one who makes you think there's something truly good and sincere deep down fighting to get out from under his genetically engineered traits, even if it wasn't true. He wanted to understand art, he loved a party, he was curious about everything and seemed to genuinely enjoy people. There seemed to be something actually innocent and confused about him at times. (too much messing with his genetics I guess). Weyoun 6 was a good guy. All the Weyouns seemed to truly love (as well as defer to) the founders, But Dukat...I hated him. He did everything for his own personal glory. Jeffrey Combs portrayal of Weyoun was a thing of beauty, deft and artful, and a delight to watch and listen to.

Jeffery Combs did such a great job on DS9 and Enterprise. Every character he played was unique and layered, I really hope he gets a guest role in Strange New Worlds (maybe a really old Admiral Shran).

I always imagined Weyoun, Dukat, and Damar as the mad scientists from Mystery Science Theater 3000. Every episode in the last three seasons or so cuts back to them + the changeling commenting on the episode at hand every other commercial break. Weyoun and Damar were especially humorous.

When Worf twists Weyoun's head to break his neck, and then the next clone shows up and Damar starts laughing: "Maybe you should talk to Worf again." Dude. That is one of the funniest moments in all of Star Trek to me.

Weyoun is absolutely not one to be underestimated. The whole crux of the augment's plan to save the Federation was to surrender to the Dominion because they predicted a rebellion would start on Earth that would lead to an even stronger Federation forming in the aftermath. Couple of episodes later, Dukat and Weyoun are casually chatting over their plans for after defeating the Federation and Weyoun nonchalantly states that they'll have to destroy Earth just to make sure no rebellions come out of there. The show doesn't draw your attention to it, but it just shows how Weyoun thinks long term and outsmarts the genetically superior humans. Of course Vorta are genetically engineered themselves, so there's a nice symmetry even there.

Treachery Faith and the Great River is one of my all time favorite Trek episodes.

My husband and I used to cackle with glee and bounce up and down in our seats when Weyoun first appeared in an episode. He is definitely one of the greatest Star Trek characters of all time. Bonus: they did not overuse him.

Jeffery Combs is a masterful actor and I've never seen him fail a role

"Maybe you should talk to Worf again!" That must be the best bit between Weyoun and Damar.

Jeffrey Combs played his role well. I would have loved to have see an Deep Space 9 movie tho.

I’ve always taken exception with the term “female changeling.” It reminds me of “lady doctor.” As if we know they’re all supposed to be guys, so when there’s a girl one, that’s how we’ll identify her. She’s actually the leader of the changelings, but we’ll just call her “female.”

I think that line you were recalling by the Female Changeling about Weyoun is the following: "My loyal Weyoun. The only solid I have ever trusted." (episode: "What You Leave Behind")

One of my favorite small Weyoun moments is the bit where Jake is trying to get him to transmit his news articles to Starfleet while the Dominion has control of the station.

Well yeah Weyoun keeps coming back. I heard the guy knows how to "reanimator" his body.

The turn from Dukat to Odo didn’t seem exaggerated from what I remember.

Jeffery Combes is a great actor. His portrayal of Weyoun makes him so unlikable, but so lovable at the same time. I have to agree with you Steve, that Deep Space 9 was the best Star Trek series ever. The way the main characters develop as the series progressed really made it stand out, especially when compared to Voyager.

Thanks, Steve. I love these videos and appreciate your insight and humor. Nice way to start the day.

A good example of Weyoun's two-face is in his first appearance, he mostly appears rather concerned about the rogue Jem'Hadar and deceitfully courteous when poking and prodding Sisko. Then he's like "The Dominion will survive long after the Federation has crumbled into dust" when Sisko insults the Dominion, and then brushes it off with a courteous quip. Simultaneously, he's concerned, courteous, and intimidating in that one scene.

I just finished my first watch of DS9 a few months ago and Weyoun was always my favorite villain. The Jeffrey Combs was perfect.

My favorite moment for Weyoun is during the episode about the baseball card. And after the final confrontation at the end of the episode he gives Jake Cisco the card. It shows that weyoun isn't pointlessly cruel. Yes he'll be cruel when it's to his advantage when he needs to impress his stature upon someone or manipulate someone. But a boy trying to buy a gift for his father? There's no reason to involve him in your petty squabbles. I think it's a great moment

Do you think one of the first orders of new Cardassia was to rename all bathrooms as Weyouns.

I liked the scene where Weyhoun and Kai Winn were together : 2 despicable, manipulative people interacting, simply charming!

I love the scene where Worf kills Weyeon and Damar laughs at Weyoun's body!

Weyoun is a great and scary villain because he is a "Believer". We see a similar type of villain in the movie "Serenity".

The scene after Weyoun 7 gets killed by Worf, and Weyoun 8 is talking to Damar, and Damar jokes about how he should go talk to Worf again is one of my favorite Weyoun scenes.

To me one of the funniest moments in all of Star Trek was when Weyoun 8 is talking to Demar after Worf killed Weyoun 7 and Demar says something like "why dont you ask Worf?" Weyoun 8 just shoots him a LOOK! My last watching i had to pause to finish laughing.

While your running gag about Damar trying to poison Weyoum is funny it was missing something. A reaction by Weyoum where he just bluntly says, "you know I am immune to poison right?"

I wish we got more of wayoun. I think the dominion wars were some of THE best episodes of Star Trek period.

Weyoun is the embodiment of the quote, show me someone who has no vices, I’ll show you someone who has no virtues

A great addition/celebration of Weyoun Wednesday! I honestly found Weyoun to be really full of humor, even though it was mostly the dissonance between the situation and his reactions.

"James Kirk was a great man, he went on to captain the Enterprise... But that was another life, a life I will deprive you of... Like i did you're father... YES JT... it was ME all along... My ship... it can hop through time... bet you hadn't figured THAT little nugget of information out yet had you... For you its been decades... but for me... its been roughly the length of like... i don't know... If this conflict was a movie... I Feel like they would open with that shot but then in the closing moments of the third act probably get me to do a callback just in case people had forgotten how the film ... JT... You've gone limp... Why are you rolling you're eyes at me? This is just like the Romulan mining facilities in house therapist once used to say... actually... funny story.. this ship... was a state of the art mining ship for its time... Too bad your times running out... just like your father did... Okay so technically he died and didn't walk out... but you're still the child of a single mother and i guess it kind of...well there IS a through line to my thoughts on that last one... Why do my hands hurt"?

I freaking love Weyoun. I had never imagined a vilian in that form. The servile, deferential , ready to please middle manager. They offer your death with a smile and a curtsey, on a silver platter especially designed just for you.

Weyoun getting his neck snapped by worf has to be the most rewatched scene i bet.

When I was younger, I didn’t start watching DS9 on a weekly basis until I was in middle school and by then the Dominion War had ready pretty much started. So I always viewed Weyoun as THE villain of DS9 more than Dukat.

I wanna say thank you Steve, I absolutely love your Star Trek videos. I work for the nhs in the uk, your in-depth reviews got me though a lot of hard times with the covids. Thank you again and I still wanna say “shut up wesley”

As a German, I always thought that in reality are many more people like him. In a war, in a military organisation. Not for the better, but there can be only a few Kahn like villans. A lot of evil comes probably through middle managers not unlike him.

My word! I have been looking forward to this video. Thank you so much 🥰

Nice Superman reference :)

I still think Weyoun 7 was the defective one, not Weyoun 6. Weyoun 6 was willing to do whatever was necessary to protect the founders, even if they disagreed with him. Weyoun 7 was willing to kill a founder in order to carry out his orders and save his own neck despite knowing the other founders would never agree to that.

I love your Star Trek videos! The DS9 ones especially. I like how you've made a little miniseries analysing great DS9 villains. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Wynn, she's always been one of my favourite villains in Star Trek, I find her ability to rapid fire veiled insults really fascinating, and I wish she'd had scenes with Garak as the two characters are really similar in some ways, and radically different in others.

Weyoun did exhibit a brief sense or morality when the female changeling ordered the Cardassians to be exterminated. The tone used in "That will take some time" was seemingly like "Come on Founder there are more important things to be doing."

Weyoun is my fave, but your recaps of the episodes nearly killed me. Please recap your favourite episodes in their entirity like this. Weyoun was like "That's my shit right there." "Mouths off at Ezri and gets his neck snapped by Worf." "That was my last Weyoun." I need entire fan fics written like this.

One bit about Weyoun 5's slavish eagerness to please Odo I loved is his immediate agreement to Odo's terms to restore Bajoran security to DS9 and offering him anythimg he wants....then as Odo turns away, Weyoun pipes up and makes a request of *Odo*. "Since I did that for you and all..." Even in the face of a man he considers a god, Weyoun still has an agenda and will slimily worm it into conversation.

Hey Steve! Thank you for another great video. Best thing after coming home! You make it all easier :)

Thanks for explaining this stuff about Weyoun and the Jem'Hadar etc. I have a heck of a time following all this. I enjoyed the video and learned a lot I didn't know about the story lines on this show. Great job on the video.

And in the case of why Dukat is a villain the fact he's a fascist. No amount of admirable qualities could compensate for that, even if he lacked all the things you mentioned some Trek villains having.

Was Q a villain?

Thanks Steve. I forgot how much I loved the Demar and Weyoun show!

Lex Luthor - "Otisburg? .... OTISBURG?!"

Dukat did nothing wrong. Humans showed up and fired on his ship without proper provocation. Typical. The Earth-Membari war wasn't his f- oh right. The other one. Uh. I've found the "X did nothing wrong" meme is usually not serious. How anyone could seriously say Feanor did nothing wrong baffles me. Oh, well, Magnus for 40K too I guess, though I really blame daddy problems for that. Can't say that I'm shocked Star Trek has its own "nothing wrong" memes. Good stuff.

As always, a fantastic vid and deep dive.Thank you Steve!

Dude, once again you knock it out of the park! I love this video, very witty. Keep up the great work

I just love how you improvise the dialogues in these videos xD